Pocket-knife



(No Model.)

J.B .HAB,DY.

POCKET KNIFE.

No. 533,219. Patented Jan. 29, 1895.

1 EL k. 5

f i f1 T aZZ whom it may concern.-

JOHN B. HARDY, OF CHESTER, CONNECTICUT.

POCKET-KNIFE.

$PEOIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 533,219, dated January 29, 1895.

Application filed July 5,1894. Serial No. 616,678. (No model.)

Be it known that I, JOHN B. HARDY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chester, in the county of Middlesex and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pocket-Knives, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, whereby any one skilled in the art can make and use the same.

My invention relates more particularly to the class of pocket knives or those consisting of a handle having a blade folding into the handle, and the object of the invention is to provide a knife having such hinged or pivoted blade with means for readily opening each blade without using any thumb slit in the side of the blade.

To this end my invention consists in the details of the several parts making up the de vice as a Whole and in the combination of such parts as more particularly hereinafter described and pointed out in the claim.

Referring to the drawin gs: Figure 1 is atop view of a pocket knife embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a side view of the knife with part of the handle broken away showing one blade partly open. Fig. 3 is a side view of the knife with one side of the handle wholly removed, with one blade opened and the other closed. Fig. 4 is a detail side view of the blade opener. Fig. 5 is a detail edge view of the opener.

In the within case my invention is illustrated and described in connection with a pocket knife having the handle a and b, a main spring 0 located along one edge and held by a single pivot o in the usual manner, the outer ends of the spring underlying the tangs of the two blades d and e which are pivotally attached to the handle by means of the pivots d and e.

The several parts described are of ordinary construction except that the blades are neither of them provided with any thumb slit or like indentation or nick usually made in the blade for the purpose of enabling it to be grasped by a thumb nail to open it.

Each blade is pivoted to the handle in the usual manner with the heel pressed upon by the spring and arranged so that an increased strain is put upon the spring in the opening and closing movement of the blade, the pressure of the spring on the blade being constant whatever the position of the blade.

In connection with each blade an opener f 5 is provided and it consists of a thin piece of it metal pivoted to the same pivot which supports the blade (as d or e) and located. between the side of the knife and the side of the tang of the blade. The opener f has a limited rocking movement, the inner end of the lever extending inward and having a shoulder or arm f projecting under the edge of the tang of the blade in front of the pivot, while the outer end of the opener projects beyond the end of the handle so that by pressure upon it a rocking movement may be imparted which tends to lift the inner end of the lever and with it the blade. The first movement of the opener carries the blade into the position illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings. A thumb piece f is preferably formed on the edge of the opener of sufficient breadth to enable the opener to be pressed upon with considerable force, as with the thumb or finger without injury to the latter. The lower edge of the opener back of the pivot forms a stop which by contact with the spring limits the downward swinging movement of the opener. This opener is preferably formed of a thin piece of metal cut or stamped to shape with the inner end turned to form the arm which engages the edge of the shank of the knife, while the thumb piece is formed by turning down the edge of the outer end, the device as a Whole being supported on the same pivot as the knife blade and having a limited rocking movement on the pivot.

The operation of the device is as follows: The opener being formed and located as described pressure upon the thumb piece raises the blade into position illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings where it can be readily grasped by the thumb and finger and then opened to any desired extent. The opener does not at any time affect the degree of pressure of the spring upon the blade nor the usual operation of either of these parts. It is pivoted on the same pin or pivot which supports the blade and has an easy though limited rocking movement for the purposes described.

I claim as my invention- In combination with a handle of a knife, a

spring secured thereto, a blade pivoted in the handle and with the' shank and heel in contact with the spring which presses upon it, an opener consisting of a thin piece of metal pivoted on the blade pin and located between the blade and one side of the handle, one end of the opener projecting under the edge of the blade forward of the pivot, and the other end of the opener projecting beyond the handle back of the pivot in a position whereby the 10 opener can be tilted to move the blade, all substantially as described.

JOHN B. HARDY. Witnesses:

SAMUEL A. WRIGHT, EDWIN G. SMITH. 

